'Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion' interview: DreamRift on the 3DS title

As well as consoles, Epic Mickey is coming to handhelds with Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion on 3DS, the spiritual successor to the classic Illusion series.

We chat with developer DreamRift's co-founder and the project's creative director Peter Ong - who also worked on the acclaimed DS adventures Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure and Monster Tale - about working with the many Disney properties in the game, his love of a second screen and his love for the original Mega Drive series.

How did you come to work with Disney on this project?"DreamRift had just finished its last game, Monster Tale, for the Nintendo DS. Having enjoyed working on the Nintendo DS so much, we knew that our next game would be for Nintendo's successor to that hardware, the Nintendo 3DS.

"Our game ideas tend to begin with a gameplay idea rather than other aspects such as the story, the look of the game, or the characters. So we start initially with what interests us most in the way that the player would interact with the game.

"We designed a concept focused on the question of what it would be like if you had a classical-styled platforming game on the top screen, but combined it with the ability on the bottom screen to create and remove things fluidly within the platforming environment.

"The player would do this by using the bottom touchscreen to physically draw and erase objects, which would lead to them appearing or disappearing in the environment.

"It was that question of how a traditional genre would play out when using a crazy idea to break its normal rules which compelled DreamRift to propose a design to Disney.

"When we first discussed a potential partnership for our next game, Disney was looking to bring the Epic Mickey universe to the Nintendo 3DS.

"Because Epic Mickey's fundamental gameplay concept is about using Paint and Thinner to create and erase things, we had a very fortunate head start on thinking about how to create an Epic Mickey experience on the Nintendo 3DS.

"After we discussed the ideas we had with Disney for creating and erasing things in a platforming-game environment through touchscreen drawing, they quickly decided that they had found the right people for the job, and the rest is history."

In what ways is this an Illusion game?"The story in Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion is a continuation of the story from both Castle of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse and Epic Mickey.

"It's rather unusual in that we've woven together the stories and gameplay of two different games based in two different universes which were first released 20 years apart from each other.

"In this game, the events from the classic 1990 Sega Genesis game - Castle of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse - have already happened. The original villain from that game, an evil witch named Mizrabel, captures Minnie Mouse, bringing Mickey back into her Castle of Illusion once again.

"Similar to the other Illusion-series games, the places that Mickey will journey through are created by illusions that are just as dangerous as reality, but are based on many different famous places, characters, landmarks, and objects from Disney's vast history of classic masterpieces.

"The way that Mickey moves and uses his abilities are strongly inspired by the original Castle of Illusion game. For example, players familiar with the original game will notice that Mickey has his bounce-attack ability in both games.

"The original Castle of Illusion had an amazing soundtrack, and for this game we were very excited to have the opportunity to bring back a lot of those songs.

"We took the composition and melodies from the songs in the original game and remade them with modern instrumentation and sound technology, attempting to meet the lofty orchestral-quality standard set by Disney's film soundtracks."

Were you a fan of the original Illusion games? What did you enjoy most about them?"Yes! Castle of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse is a very personal game to me, and one of my all-time favorite games.

"It was such a big part of my childhood that in an utterly selfish move, I immediately jumped at the chance to tie Castle of Illusion into this game the moment we began discussing the project with Disney. The Illusion series of games have been dormant for far too long.

"With Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, DreamRift hopes to pay tribute to the Illusion games - which were always held up as the highest examples of great games.

"If DreamRift were to be considered to add to even a small part of that legacy, we'd consider it to be an extraordinary honor."

The game features both the Castle of Illusion and the Wasteland - what happens when you clash those two settings?"Those familiar with Epic Mickey will recall that Wasteland is a place where things from Disney's history are transported to when they become forgotten or are no longer as popular.

"The story for Disney Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion begins when the Castle of Illusion falls into Wasteland as a forgotten object, and along with it comes its ruler, the witch Mizrabel.

"Naturally, Mizrabel is none too thrilled with the idea of being forgotten and banished to Wasteland, and she hatches a plan to get back to the Cartoon World which unfortunately involves the capturing of Minnie Mouse and many other famous Disney characters.

"In a way, Mizrabel's predicament echoes my own sentiments toward the Castle of Illusion and the Illusion series.

"I actually sympathize with Mizrabel... Being such big fans of the Castle of Illusion game, we strongly believe that it should never be forgotten! That's why we just had to bring it back."

What was the process of deciding which villains and settings from other Disney properties to include?"This might have been the absolute hardest problem we had making this game. With the amazing amount of trust that Disney placed in us to work with a huge range of the most beloved universes of all time, we faced the dilemma of deciding how to choose the things that would go into the game.

"After all, how does one choose between so many things that are so near and dear to your heart? Although it was difficult, it was one of the happiest problems I could imagine having.

"With our team members being such huge Disney fans, we were faced with the reality that a single game would never be able to cram anywhere near all of the things we felt just had to get in there!

"The method we used to decide was based on many factors, including personal attachments, range of subject matter, and eras of Disney's history. After some civilized discussions and many more gruelling no-holds-barred brawls, we were finally able to decide on a list that we think makes for the best possible game."

How does each one influence level design?"Each wing in the castle features illusions that come from a different Disney film. This includes the settings, heroines/heroes, princesses, villains, and more of each film.

"For example, the East Wing of the castle is based on the film Peter Pan, while the West Wing is based on the film Aladdin. Mickey faces obstacles and enemies drawn from each film, and the heroic characters from the films also directly help Mickey to overcome those obstacles. Finally, each boss in the game is a major Disney villain."

What were the differences in working with established IP as opposed to your own IP?"When you're working with an IP that's already established to where the whole world already loves it, there's a whole new added pressure beyond having to just make sure that the game is good. Just being 'good' isn't really even enough when you're talking about the sort of emotional connection that people have with Disney's masterpieces.

"If we screw up our own original universe that we're creating for the first time, it's not as big of a blow to the audience… It's not like we've taken something away from people that they already love.

"Throughout this project, there was always a danger of collapsing under the enormous amount of pressure that can come with having to do justice to the work of those who have come before us in creating any of the Disney IPs involved (including the original Castle of Illusion game).

"These are works that that insanely talented people have poured their hearts and artistic souls into, inspiring generations all over as part of the word's cultural history.

"It could get very daunting to consider that we were given the responsibility to breathe new life into eternal icons such as Snow White, Peter Pan, Ariel and Beast, by animating them, writing new dialog for them, and bringing them into a new story.

"Once we were given this incredible privilege to work with Disney's range of history and properties, it took a moment to sink in. It was like, 'You dreamed about it, you asked for this opportunity, and now you've got it. So, now can you live up to it?'

"We knew that if we thought about that too much, we could be paralyzed by the sheer gravity of it. We just had to keep our focus on enjoying each and every piece of what we were being allowed to work with day by day, rather than looking at the larger scale implications of it."

Your previous projects - Henry Hatsworth and Monster Tale - both use the touch screen in unique ways. What is it about that second screen that interests you as a developer?"Thanks for noticing! At DreamRift, we believe that a game should be designed based on the videogame system that it is made for. We like to consider the features of the hardware that we're working on, and the way in which those are unique versus other types of hardware, and then we try to grow a game idea as organically as possible from that.

"This means that a game on one videogame system should be different than a game for another videogame system if the two hardware platforms differ in meaningful ways.

"With Nintendo's recent handheld systems being quite different than other videogame systems out there, we've really enjoyed trying to extend that uniqueness into the games we make. One of the standout features of the Nintendo DS and 3DS is that they have two screens.

"This aspect is still sorely under-used as a major part of games' designs on these hardware platforms. Most of the games on these systems use one of the screens trivially, usually using it to do things such as displaying a map, the heads-up-display, or an extended view of your view of the environment.

"We're interested in exploring what types of new experiences can be had by considering this major hardware feature as a fundamental part of a game's design. Fortunately Disney shared the same philosophy, which led to our partnership on this game.

"When we first began discussing bringing Epic Mickey's universe to the Nintendo 3DS, Disney immediately expressed that they wanted to work with us because they thought that Epic Mickey on the Nintendo 3DS should be a unique standalone experience rather than being a watered-down translation of a pre-existing Epic Mickey game from a different videogame system."

Does the Wii U interest you as a developer?"Very much so. Once again, we're fascinated by the opportunities to create new types of gameplay on the Wii U due to its second screen and other features.

"The opportunity to sink our teeth into the Wii U while bringing our prior experience from the Nintendo DS [and] 3DS to the table sounds very appealing."

Would you consider bringing the game to other touchscreen devices, such as phones or Vita?"We're very interested in other such devices, but when we move to a new device, the most important thing to DreamRift is that the game should play as though it was made for that device.

"We won't make a game for a device just to have more games out on more hardware platforms. We'll only do it if there's something particularly interesting about a game idea on that specific device.

"As I mentioned earlier, we design games to be specifically suited to the devices they are played on. Consequently, whether we were to bring this game or a different game to a different device, we would adapt the design of the game as much as necessary in order to make sure it wasn't ahaphazard match to the features of the hardware."